The Regional Administrative Court has decided to ask for the Constitutional Court’s opinion on the constitutionality of the laws under which Russian-born ice dancer Margarita Drobiazko was stripped of her Lithuanian citizenship.
The decision was announced on Tuesday by Gediminas Užubalis, the president of the Regional Administrative Court.
The panel of judges decided to suspend the administrative proceedings until the Constitutional Court issues its opinion, he said.
The court heard Drobiazko’s appeal against her citizenship revocation in November. During the hearing, the ice dancer avoided expressing her stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In September 2023, President Gitanas Nausėda revoked Drobiazko’s Lithuanian citizenship, which she had been granted by way of exception back in 1993. The president acted on a recommendation from the Citizenship Commission, which cited Drobiazko’s public support for the Kremlin regime, which is waging war in Ukraine, as the reason.
During the hearing, Drobiazko said that she had never expressed political views in any interview and added that her professional activities were unrelated to political matters.
Lithuanian authorities say that Drobiazko maintains close professional and personal ties with Tatyana Navka, the wife of Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary. Navka is on the EU and US sanctions lists.
Drobiazko said she has known Navka since she was 15 years old and is aware of who her husband is.
According to Pranas Žukauskas, chairman of the Citizenship Commission, Drobiazko’s publicly demonstrated ties with Putin’s inner circle and her participation in events organised by Navka should be considered public support for that regime.
According to the Law on Citizenship, a person granted Lithuanian citizenship by way of exception may lose it if their actions threaten Lithuania’s security interests or if they publicly express support for a state that poses a threat to the security interests of Lithuania or other EU member states or their allies.
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